This should not come as a complete surprise. That members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party in Oyo state would one day be at loggerhead, throw caution in the wind, and wear mask broad daylight just to attack and destroy factional party secretariat in an attempt to show superiority, loyalty and authority. But given the electoral trajectory of the party in sending APC out of Agodi government house and the way it has managed the electoral goodies, one is bound to ask questions bordering on the party’s cohesion, unity, stability and chances of survival in next general election.
But methinks the question on the party’s unity and survival in next election should rather take backseat for other pressing points. And we can start by probing how Oyo PDP under the leadership of Engineer Seyi Makinde has slowly gradually descend into the quicksand of unrest, instability and ego-war.
Naturally, people are not that bounded and united, only when there is a common difficulty to be overcome. This aphorism helped explained what underpins the thinking of scores of political bigwigs who teamed up with Engineer Seyi Makinde in the 2019 election to dislodge the All Progressives Congress from Agodi, and truncate the personal senatorial ambition of Senator Abiola Ajimobi. In essence, the metaphorical PDP’s truck of propaganda rolled over APC, hit and crushed it to coma. In this way, agreements were reached, pacts made and each power blocs that made PDP formidable and APC fragile went home assured of the goodies and bounties of electoral victory. What about populism?
One defining features of populism is its creation of enemy where there is none. Donald Trump made blacks, Muslims, immigrants subjects of his small mindedness, thin skin, mean spirited, scatterbrained vituperation and bigotry. He frantically fanned the ember of racial and religious discord in the across the blue and red states for personal political interest. The result is a deeply divided country on the precipice of destruction but safe for the electoral victory of Joe Biden, the self-acclaimed police of the world in other words would by now be on the cusp of eternal dismissal. For populist evidenced in Donald Trump are time-bomb, waiting to explode.
While populism thrives in We-versus-they mentality, populists enjoyed support and curry favor as long as their enemies remain visible, audible and alive. For Oyo PDP, late Abiola Ajimobi, first two terms Governor of the state was the poster-child for the state’s infrastructural woes, inadequate payment of staff salary and when issue of security is raised, an area the late Governor scored ‘A1’, Oyo PDP always find a way to deflect and divert public attention. Then the man died. The outspoken and urbane Abiola Ajimobi gave up the ghost after COVID’19 complications.
And that left Oyo PDP with one single destructive step: make enemies within. Even politicization of Senator Ajimobi’s death was another grand plot by the ruling PDP to score cheap political points and in the long run, take time to invent more exogenous enemies. But then, the shoes left behind by Senator Ajimobi was too big for any party leader to wear and that smothered the idea of a making an individual a subject of attack for the state’s rising debt and unfortunate uptick in insecurity.
Now, Oyo PDP is threading that same destructive path APC trudged in the last election. As the race for the last election took a new twist, APC became fragmented, splitting into two all-out-for-war groups: SENACO (Senator Abiola Ajimobi campaign organization) and Unity forum (a band of aggrieved and discontented members of the party). Attempts to nip the crisis in bud fell way side paving the way for fifth columnists to sneak and made mountain out of molehill. The result today, is an open secret.
For publicly attacking and deriding its members in public, the house built by PDP in the last election has dramatically fallen. “Any kind of crisis can be good” says Ryan Reynolds “it wakes you up.” Will this wakes Oyo PDP up?
OYO101, Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion on issues affecting Oyo State, is published on Saturdays. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850.
